Boise State
12-19
Air Force
13-17
Senior Night Magic Propels Broncos to 80-52 Victory
3/9/2019 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Derrick Alston scored 22 points, Zach Haney added a career-high 20 points and Boise State defeated Air Force 80-52, Saturday. On a night where the team's two seniors - Haney and David Wacker - were honored prior to game, it was only right for both of them to start, marking the first time this season that the two bigs have been on the court at the same time.
Alston now has a team-best eight 20-point games this season. He has scored 20 points or more in four of his last five games.
The Broncos took a 45-24 halftime lead by shooting 57 percent from the floor and making 7 of 16 3-pointers (39 percent).
Haney scored 14 points in the first half and Alston took over the scoring load in the second period, scoring 14 himself. Boise State pushed the lead to 30 on a 3-pointer by Alston and another Alston 3-pointer built a 33-point lead, 63-30 with 11:30 remaining - the team's largest lead of the game.
Justinian Jessup added 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Broncos (12-19, 7-11 Mountain West). Jessup made three 3-pointers and Alston had four. The Broncos made 12 of 31 from 3-point distance.
Jessup's performance gives him 85 threes in 2018-19. He now has the No. 2 and 3 marks for most threes in single-season program history after making 90 in 2017-18.
Lavelle Scottie led Air Force (13-17, 8-10) with 10 points.
With the win along with a combination of other results around the conference, Boise State will be the No. 8 seed at next week's Mountain West Championship (March 13-16) in Las Vegas. The Broncos will play No. 9 seed Colorado State.
The opening round matchup will be the first game of the tournament on the men's side, as it is set to tip at 11 a.m. PT on Wednesday, March 13 at Thomas & Mack Center. The game will broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
